it's that time of the year again...the nba season! i can't wait for this season to start with all the player movements and a few revamped teams.

eastern conference

the atlantic division is a lock for the celtics. the nets made some moves and they will definitely have more wins this season than last, but they won't make too much noise. amar'e stoudemire will get his points, but until he gets help, the knicks won't be much of a threat. the knicks need to make some moves (maybe a trade with the spurs for tony parker?) and get rid of tracy mcgrady. he's done! the celtics might be the only team to win 50+ wins in the atlantic division.

in the central division, the bulls are definitely an improved team this year (on paper) with boozer coming over from utah to help out luol deng and derrick rose. korver left utah as well to play for the bulls, and should offset the loss of hinrich. detroit and milwaukee will give the bulls a run for the division. cleveland will probably end up last in this division.

in the southeast, we all know what miami did bringing lebron and bosh over, but i wouldn't be too quick to jump on their bandwagon. it all depends on how the rest of the team plays their roles and if wade can stay healthy. and i've always thought that bosh was overrated...we'll see. dwight howard got some advice and was tutored by one of the best low post players ever, hakeem olajuwon, so we may see more offensive moves from him. atlanta will still be exciting to watch with crawford, johnson, horford and smith. charlotte might piss off a few teams here and there, but they're not much of a threat.

denver is in a world of hurt with carmelo and kenyon martin wanting out. i think they're both gone though by the trade-deadline. it's a shame 'cause with them, they're a really good team. also, look for them to deal j.r. smith...he's a free agent at the end of the season, right? portland will win some games, with or without greg oden, but brandon roy and nicolas batum need help. rudy fernandez is probably out. utah made up for losing boozer with the signing of al jefferson. deron williams is still one, if not THE best point guards in the nba. he needs to stay healthy for utah to go anywhere. as does mehmet okur. he can really stretch the defense. signing raja bell is good. he'll help out on the defensive end and can spot up for the 3. sorry minnesota...the wolves are going nowhere. oklahoma city thunder will probably win the northwest division. kevin durant is a beast and russell westbrook is the real deal. also, they've got a lot of help from a bunch of players that are young and athletic.

in the southwest, dallas got a bit stronger defensively with the signing of tyson chandler (not to say no one gets past him). the bad thing is that jason kidd, although still effective at times, is getting old. there's not much of a difference between 27yrs old and 28yrs old, but there's a big difference between 37yrs old and 38yrs old. speaking of old, san antonio spurs aren't getting any younger. and they hurt themselves resigning richard jefferson. if tim duncan, manu ginobili and tony parker can stay healthy, greg popovich can coach the rest of the team to play their roles and get the team to the playoffs. houston isn't going to do much with or without yao ming. aaron brooks is bad ass but he can't carry the team himself. new orleans is decent, but chris paul might be gone by the trade deadline. trevor ariza was a good addition though. memphis has two of the most exciting players to watch in o.j. mayo and rudy gay. marc gasol doesn't look so clumsy anymore and zach randolph is playing well. memphis could be last year's okc.

the pacific is a given; the lakers will win it. they got stronger in the off-season, signing matt barnes, james blake and theo ratliff. rookie devin ebanks looks like the 2nd coming of trevor ariza. once andrew bynum and kobe bryant are back 100%, and the lakers avoid further injuries, i expect them to win 62+ games. the l.a. clippers will be right behind the lakers. blake griffin will be the rookie of the year and vinnie del negro will be coach of the year. phoenix suns, sacramento kings and golden state warriors won't be factors come playoff time.

Impressive and well thought out take on the nba for 10-11. Nice work Joe!
Im agreeing with most.
McGrady has had a fork in him for years, done.
Anthony should be joining Amare in NY soon...then down go the Nuggets. Chauncy will bo out, kmart and they'll be left w/ ty lawson... Anthony, as much as the guy has improved, he is showing his true colors. This guy will never have a ring. Amare isnt a team player (and wont have Nash to throw him the ball) and either is Anthony...Good Luck Knick fan, aint gonna work.
Bull improved and may make a run, is detroit still relavant?
Durant/westbrook Thunder are in for the duration, lookin good.
Hornets, even w/ Paul are getting worse.
Clippers will be in the playoff picture...but it wont matter because they are cursed.
not concerned with how many games the Lakers win, let Miami play that game. I only care that they are healthy and peaking in April, May and June.
sidenote- Magic sold his stake in the Lakers, wonder if he is wanting to be like mike and buy a team...listening Warrior fan?
Joe, I think James Blake plays tennis and the Lakers got Steve Blake to back up Fish
Preseason has been unwatchable.

I think they are better than that….but I am biased…. They have the best 1 in the league, Jefferson is going to be even better with a team around him. Millsap is a beast. Klinko is Klinko(I hope he doesn’t get traded), overpaid, but underrated. Bell is a HUGE addition, as he brings toughness and leadership, two things the Jazz sorely lacked…. CJ Miles had a SOLID playoff run, time for him to step up.

Elson, will be a nice role player and gives the Jazz needed length. Same with Earl Watson, solid back up.

Jeremy Evans is going to surprise.....

In the end, I believe the Jazz are a better team this year than last. They are longer, more athletic, tougher and don’t have a chemistry problem(read Carlos Boozer)

Oh...and Memo is out until after the Christmas break I would guess....

Nice ring ceremony for the Lakers last night, flag looks good up on the wall.
Then the game started... closer than expected but they picked up the defense and slowed down the guards in 2nd half.
Shannon Brown is going to play a lot more minutes theis year, looks like he did some work over the summer. Kobe looks like he is at about 85%, maybe

Celts/Heat game was like watching a playoff game last night. Crowd was super into it, players were definitely playing harder than a regular season game. Lebron came to play but where was DWade? Once they get used to playing with each other it's going to be a highlight real every night.
BTW the Celts are deep! They could play Nate Robinson, Marquis Daniels, Jermaine O'Neall, Big Baby Davis, and Shaq and still compete with most teams in the league. That is going to be a tough team to beat even for the Lakes this year.

I watched a couple qtrs of your Jazz game last night EJ. I agree they have some talent, and they will get better as they play together more. The end of the 1st half was embarrassing...guessing sloan was not too happy after that.

As a Seattle Native and fan of the Sonics the NBA is pretty much dead to me although I find myself rooting for the Thunder since most of the guys were drafted when they were still here. Does anybody else absolutely hate Lebron now? I went from liking him to thinking he is an incredibly huge douche. His new commercial makes me want to punch him in the face.

Millsap hit more 3's in one night than in his entire career. Nice come back win at miami.
Lakers travel to Denver tomorrow, props to the Pacers for softening the nugs up by scoring 144 on them last night. Someone mention earlier about how talented they were?

The warriors are holding strong in the early season. They look so much more like a team without Maggette out there. I don't have delusions of them making the playoffs. But the way they are looking I think .500 could be a possibility, kind of in the Memphis mold form last year. Plus Ellis Curry and Lee are just plain fun to watch.

Another lackluster defensive night for the Lakers at home V. Phoenix when the Suns are just raining 3's on them. They average about 9 but hit 21 or 22, just unreal.
Kevin Love is killing it on the boards, 31 and 31 the other night, Tenacious!

KG is by far my favorite player in the NBA. Noone plays with as much intensity as him or cares about the game more than him. I love his style of actual play too (hard D and mid range shooting combined with low post moves). Yeah he runs his mouth, thats part of his intensity, I see why people dont like him but it doesnt bother me

^^heard that on the radio this morning...Think positive Joe, maybe hes the second coming of Bill Walton who lost much of his first few years... or it might be a Portland thing. Brandon Roy is bone on bone on his knee and i dont think its getting any better.

I think Portland would take Sam Bowie over Oden. At least Bowie played and averaged 10pts 7.5 rbs and 1.8 blks in over 500 games in his career. Oden hasn't even played, for the most part. Bowie gets a bad rap because he was picked before Jordan. He was at least a serviceable big man in the NBA.

"Kevin Durant is everything you want a superstar to be, but he gets WAY TOO MANY calls...."

I know a lot of you guys are Laker fans, but man it makes me sick to watch a game with the Lakers playing. The calls they get are just ridiculous. If someone breaths on them, they get a call.

I must admit, I used to love KG. I've lost a lot of respect for him now that I get a chance to see him play more on the Celtics. He is kind of a little B#@$#. It's a joke to think he called Villanueva a "cancer to his team" in the heat of battle. Doesn't sound like Garnett at all. Now calling him a cancer patient...yeah, that sounds like KG.

Im interested to see Cavs and Heat tonight. The king should be wearing his flack jacket and ear plugs cause some of those fans are still sore he took his talents to southbeach.
Lakers have been terrible recently, not too worried but thought it should be said. Ive been seeing too much one on one and not enought team offense. Defense has been a sieve.
Clippers got another great game from griffin and beat the spurs, and the spurs are at least as good and probably better than last year. Nice win.

Lakers had a good roadtrip, playing well, like you said so are the Heat. Take advantage of the length and make the extra pass... Defensivly i think the lakers have enough, Barnes, Artest have been playing good D.

Thrilled with the win by the Bucks last night. No Jennings, Magette, Gooden nor Delfino and the Bucks pulled out a tough win with great defense in LA, while being extremely undermanned.

It cracks me up how the media can only talk about how Odom was feeling ill and Kobe had a fender bender before the game......WTF???? How about Milwaukee has never had all 5 normal starters on the floor together at one time even once this year. How about when Milwaukee finally got everyone back, but Delfino, they went 4-2, but then Jennings broke his foot and is out for 4-6 weeks. Seriously, I would take an ill Odom and a distracted Kobe....life is so hard in LA right now

^^ Embarrassing loss by the lakers. I see no effort too often with this team. It appears watching teams like San Antonio or Boston even Dallas they have something on the line and play w/ passion. Life IS hard in LA now. At tipoff I never know if the good lakers are showing up or the just playing another regular season game lakers are on the floor. i got no prediction for christmas day.

Griffin, Eric Gordon,DJordan...clips have some talent, baron should embrace it.
Wade is on a scoring binge.
Down goes Garnett, again.
Lakers beat down another under .500 team, yawn except for odom's around the back finger roll and put back...
Happy new year all.

the only thing Baron is embracing this year, is his inner Vin Baker. and I blame it all on Elton Brand. he ruined Baron's desire for the game, and now he is just a paycheck cashing machine. sad really.

Train, sure Elton Brand pulled a fast one on baron and the clips...but a pro keeps his head straight, gets into shape and plays harder and smarter. Baron sits on the prof. ball player/entertainer fence and sittin on the fence never works. ...Baron hasnt givin 100% since he was a GS Warrior. And it is sad.
Lakers are also pretty sad at this point. Arguably more talent than last year yet they cant get it to translate to the hardwood. Seems pretty clear what their issues are and the zenmaster having early trouble getting them to wake up. Time will tell.

LA Times Sports front page...The Clippers had all the headlines after that impressive win. 15 and 23... still 14 1/2 games out ...gonna need to win about 30 more of 44 remaining, i would think. Maybe it was Karma striking the king and his jesters
I missed Miami/La in favor of Lakers/ Golden State. Also a great game..Ellis was on fire early and often. Odom had 16 in the first 6 mins of the 4th qtr..Kobe had 17 in the second 6 minutes of a 46 point closing qtr. Fun game to watch and i dig warrior jerseys.

haha! even though i agree that griffin and love deserve to be there, they may not take the top spot until next year. this definitely has been their breakout year so far, so if they keep it up, they'll definitely be in the running next year.

Yeah, unfortunately only 1 of them will probably make it and they both deserve to be there. I'm guessing Love will get shafted due to playing for the TWolves and not having the highlight reel material.

There are no real quality Centers in the West. They should move Duncan to C and open spots fo both Love and Griffin.

"As Mr. Dwyer explained a little bit ago, this post by Henry Abbott on TrueHoop has taken our basketball corner of the Internet by storm Friday for claiming that Kobe Bryant(notes) is not as clutch as everyone thinks. By the numbers, Kobe makes a little less than one of every three shots when his team is down two, down one, or tied on the final possession, which makes him one of the worst performers among players with at least 30 attempts in those situations. Kobe also rates poorly in all situations in the final five minutes or overtime."
~http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/bal...urn=nba-313919

4 teams passed on Cousins because he has been a head case, not questioning his play.
Another unimpressive home game by the lakers. Appears they only have trouble against the under .500 (bad teams) and the over .500 (good teams). Other than that...
Little bit of Lamar Odom and a whole lot of Kobe Bryant wasnt close to enough V. Celtics. Artest played terrible on both sides of the ball, Gasol made invisible by Garnett. Celtics owned the boards too. Shaq sucked, other than that...

the clips should try and ship kaman and a couple others to denver for melo. that would work out.
speaking to a friend of mine who works for the lakers, he said bynum is a pretty fragile dude. up there with Oden and Yao when it comes to his body.

Absolutely. At this point in his career his numbers have dropped significantly. I think its pretty clear this has become pauL's team. Shaq carried Volume Shooter to a few titles, lets see if pauL can as well.